DEXTER Blackstock has warned Nottingham Forest may never be a potent force in the Championship again if they do not change their contract policy.

The striker fears that Luke Chambers, Garath McCleary, Joel Lynch, Paul Anderson and the other out-of-contract players will all walk out of the City Ground for nothing in the summer when their contracts expire.

Blackstock – who netted both goals in Forest's 2-0 win over Portsmouth at the weekend – questions how they will challenge for promotion unless manager Steve Cotterill is backed heavily.

And he warned the Reds could lose Chris Cohen, Lee Camp, Lewis McGugan, Chris Gunter and himself, when their contracts expire in a year.

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"It does not make sense. How can that happen? I know Steve Cotterill is trying to make things right, but he has had his hands tied," said Blackstock.

"Hopefully the policy will change next season. The manager has done a good job but he needs to be given some help.

"I have spoken to the other players and tried to persuade them to stay. But they are looking at other possibilities now because of the position. There may be Premier League interest in some of them.

"And it is very difficult to turn down Premier League interest. If we'd had sorted this out nine months ago, this would not be a problem.

"No other football club that I know of does this.

"If we have no idea how we are going to replace these players, it does not make sense. We have players here who would be happy to sign for this club. But we are perhaps going to let them leave for nothing?

"We are going to weaken the team and the squad. What is the point of that?

"We could have 12 or 13 players walking out of the door. I don't know why it has been allowed to run down into this situation.

"It is important for us to keep those players because it will be very hard to replace their quality.

"If the club allows these players to leave on a free, it is going to cost far more to replace them."

Blackstock is surprised the club has not learned lessons from the past.

"Forest lost Kris Commons for nothing," he said. "We lost Kelvin Wilson. We had to sell Wes Morgan. We cannot allow the same thing to happen again.

"If the club wants to talk to me about a new contract, I would love to talk to them. I would be happy to stay with Forest for a number of years. I am happy here.

"But, if you do get into a position where you are running down to the last few months of your contract, you are going to look at your options.

"Your frame of mind might change if you find yourself in a position where you have other offers to consider.

"I would sign a new contract now and I am sure other people would if they wanted to talk.

"What if we get to the same point next season and we have Campy, Lewis McGugan, Chris Cohen, Chris Gunter, myself . . . how much money would it cost to replace these people?

"We need new players next season anyway.

"If we want to be pushing for promotion, those players will have to be quality."

Comments

True Dex, 'No other football club that I know of does this' but then no other club has Mark Arthur. In his own words:
'We do not offer new contracts until we know what division we will be playing in'.
How rediculous is that?

Blackstock must have a very selective memory if he thinks Forest are the only club whose transfer dealings are less than perfect. His own transfer from QPR was ridiculous, [see the QPR documentary]. Not to mention the arrival of Lee Camp.

I have a lot of time for Dexter as a player and the way he has battled back from injury to contribute significantly in our survival.
That said as with 90% of footballers they need to get in the real world finacially. It's well documented that Forest have been making a loss of £12million a year yet Dexter still thinks that we are in a position to offer him £500k a year for a further 3yrs.
A cheap dig at the club in my eyes. Yes we have made mistakes with letting contracts expire and plain and simply we perhaps need to stick Dexter, Camp (whom's contribution this year has been poor) and friends on the transfer list if we are not in a realistic offer to renew in 12moths.
I believe that Forest have gambled with the hope of promotion to the promised land that would enable them to offer a relistic contract offer rather than offer terms 12months in advance. As with many decisions at board level this policy has backfired.
Footballers and their filthy agents need to uderstand that there days of lavish reneumeration are numbered. As fans of NFFC we are going to become frustrated but I would rather be frustrated then worried about the longevity of our great club- speak to Cov, Rangers and Pompey fans who will endorse that fact!
Still renewing next year and for ever hopeful!
Forest Till I DIE!!!!!!

Don't hold your breath about contract talks Dex, there's nothing you can do if you're offered peanuts and are then allowed to leave for nothing, it's the fault of the idiots apparently running the club. Pelling and Arthur, you know who you are.

Cafka, your far wide of the mark I do have a season ticket! Greening aint a bad player, bit old and I just think we could have got someone a bit more flexible than him, and probably more importantly so does Cotterill.